Sports Business

Groupmatics is adding to its impressive collection of pro sports teams as clients

Groupmatics is growing rapidly, though founder Matt Mastrangelo admits a 540% year-over-year revenue jump from 2014 to 2015 is easier to achieve when a company is only a few years removed from its launch.

But the Westlake software company, which helps sports teams and entertainment venues manage group ticket sales, is developing quite a roster of clients. Groupmatics closed 2014 with 15 major- and minor-league teams using its software, which allows teams and venues to create a link that a group leader can distribute to anyone interested in purchasing a ticket. (That way, a youth group or a Little League baseball team doesn’t have to collect all of the money for an outing. The team, via Groupmatics, does that for them.) By the end of 2015, Groupmatics was up to 41 teams, and Mastrangelo says the company he founded in 2012 is now approaching 50. Groupmatics works with five NBA teams, including the Golden State Warriors, and five MLB clubs, including the Boston Red Sox, Washington Nationals and Detroit Tigers. The company has also added three NHL teams, including the Columbus Blue Jackets, along with the Columbus Crew and two other MLS clubs. Mastrangelo said Groupmatics started working with the Warriors during the 2015 NBA Finals. The company’s selling point, oddly enough, was its ability to ease the burden that sometimes results from teams giving away tickets to a future game during summer camps they host each year. “There’s a real big issue across the industry with including a free ticket maybe in a kids registration of some sort,” Mastrangelo said. “And they were facing challenges in being able to take those orders and sales online while also allowing parents and families to purchase additional seats and keep everyone together (at the game). “So we actually worked in conjunction and built out this new redemption code feature with the Warriors specifically, but we knew that this was an issue across the industry and building out this brand new feature would open up doors to other teams.” And that, Mastrangelo said, “is exactly what’s happened so far.” Groupmatics became an approved vendor for MLB Advanced Media, the powerful digital arm of Major League Baseball, prior to the 2015 season. The company got a late start — Mastrangelo said Groupmatics’ software “wasn’t up and running” with most of the company’s MLB clients until the start of last season. When it comes to group sales, that means you’re at least a couple months late. “Most groups have to finalize their numbers two to three weeks out from the game, so they start selling in advance and we missed out on a lot of that,” said Mastrangelo, who previously worked in group ticket sales for the Indians and Browns. “But overall it went really well. I think that’s why you see the Padres and the Nationals coming on board (for 2016).” Mastrangelo’s company has raised $700,000 in two financing rounds — $300,000 in May 2014 and $400,000 last September. According to Groupmatics’ CrunchBase bio, Zapis Capital was a heavy investor on both occasions, and the Innovation Fund of Northeast Ohio kicked in $100,000 last September. The company has only three employees, and it’s been using Zapis’ Detroit Road office space in Westlake. But Mastrangelo said Groupmatics will soon be taking up space at Alpha Park in Highland Heights, which is the city in which he resides with his family. (His wife, Nicole, is Crain’s advertising director.) Groupmatics also is trying to make its mark in arts and entertainment. Playhouse Square is a client, and Groupmatics recently struck a deal with Broadway Across America, which sells tickets for shows in 28 U.S. cities, plus Canada. Mastrangelo said Groupmatics is doing a “soft rollout,” beginning with using its software in conjunction with Broadway Across America’s Boston show schedule. Something that’s worked well for the company is adding questions that a person answers during the checkout process. That way, a team can gauge a customer’s interest in becoming a season-ticket holder, and it’s then able to collect more data on its clientele. “The amount of revenue now that we’re starting to generate for these teams is pretty significant,” Mastrangelo said. “They had never been able to identify who these buyers are within a group. There was no platform ever built to be able to do that.”

Another busy season for Browns' team doc

Now that the NFL scouting combine is upon us, we can’t help but think of Dr. James Voos, the Browns’ team physician we recently profiled for a Crain’s Who to Watch in Health Care section.

Voos told us he and his University Hospitals sports medicine team examine every player who comes through the combine. There were 332 players invited to this year’s event in Indianapolis. Workouts begin Friday and run through Monday. It’s a very busy week,” Voos said. “We evaluate and are knowledgeable about every single athlete who comes through.” Voos said he’s joined by UH orthopedic surgeon Michael Salata and two more physicians, plus the Browns’ training staff, in Indy. He came to Cleveland in 2014 from Kansas City, where he was the Chiefs’ team physician for three years. When Voos returns from Indianapolis, the clock will begin ticking on the March 9 kickoff of free agency. That means more medical evaluations of prospective Browns players. It’s why Voos said “there’s always something going on” for an NFL team doc. Voos and his wife, Kristin, a neonatologist at University Hospitals, have three kids, all 6 and under. His lone son, K.C., is 3. And if you’re wondering about concussions, as every football fan should be, yes Dr. Voos said he would let K.C. play football, should his son have the desire to participate. The keys, he said, are that a child is physically ready for the sport, and that the coaches are appropriately trained and have the kids’ safety as a top priority. If those things “check out,” he said football is a good sport to play.